Drive
by GreenBinderGirl
Summary: [Gaara x Lee] Lee is always just teetering on the edge, but this time, he falls and Gaara can't catch him.


**Quick Author's Notes:** Once again, it is a longer version of one of my drabbles from "A Moment Like This". Chapter nine, Drive, to be more specific. This story is named after that chapter, so original. I was just reading a Gaara/Lee story that almost made me cry, so I felt like writing something romantic. And here it is!

Damn, I've written a lot of Gaalee fics…but I must write more, 'cuz there is not enough! D:

**Warning:** This one is weird. Drama, romance, and some humor. Don't see that every day, now do we? XD

**Drive**

It was training day. _Every_ day was training day for Lee, of course. Gaara had memorized his schedule, from the moment he slips groggily out of bed to the time when he drags his broken and beaten body home, sometimes carried by a team mate or concerned passersby.

It takes Lee ten minutes to shower. While sitting on the branch outside of Lee's little house, he finds himself imagining what Lee looked like with hot water running down his naked body. The thoughts startled him and tried to avert his focus to something else. The tiny fresh buds on the tree were sprouting beautifully, jubilant in their springtime of youth…

When Lee is down in the shower, it takes him a few minutes longer to put on his clothes and comb his hair. He uses a ridiculous amount of gel to make it flat and shiny, which Gaara hates, because he likes the way Lee's hair looks all messed up in the mornings, before he takes his shower and ruins it.

The last thing Lee puts on in his forehead protector, tying it securely around the waist. With a small, enthusiastic "Yosh!" he bounds off to the kitchen to fix a quick breakfast. While he does this, sometimes he hums a song. Gaara noticed that every Thursday he sings instead of hums. Thursdays are the days that Gaara watches Lee train.

After eating breakfast, Rock Lee skips out of his house to meet with his team. It is this time that Gaara must leave to attend to certain duties, but every now and again he checks to make sure that Lee was all right. He wasn't _stalking_, no, he was _protecting_ him.

Thursday was Gaara's favourite day of the week, because it is his day off. And he gets to watch Lee train, and Lee knows it.

Gaara used to train with Lee, but they both gave up after a while, realizing that it was futile because Gaara would never suddenly want to learn taijutsu, despite Lee's antics. Instead, the young Kazekage would observe a little ways away, listening to Lee's grunts and mumbles, smiling as if his voice was some type of sweet music. Which, to Gaara, it was.

_This_ Thursday is different. _This_ Thursday Lee pushes himself over the edge. All the other days, he teeters on the edge, teasing the dangerous waters below with a broken smile and a confident thumbs-up. Sometimes he faints, but he never goes _over_. Someone is always there to pull him back. _Gaara_ is always there to pull him back, but this time, he wasn't there.

Temari finds Gaara sometime around noon, and said that he had a mission to do. It was a special mission that only the Kazekage could carry out, and that he _must_ do it _now_, despite it being his day off. Gaara leaves, without first giving one last look of longing to Lee (1), who waves and grins and says, "I hope your mission goes well, Gaara-sama!"

Gaara's mission was tedious and boring and took four hours to complete. The entire time, his mind was riddled with thoughts of Rock Lee, some of them horrendously embarrassing, like how his signature green spandex really brings out the nice shape of his thighs. And how the wind blows his hair, and he looks so beautiful…

* * *

When Gaara arrives back at the Konoha training grounds, it was dark. It was around nine o'clock—the trip back took longer than he expected (no thanks to Temari and Kankurou). 

Gaara sees a thin lump lying in the grass, clothing stained with blood, and once-white bandages halfway off his arms.

"Oh, Lee," Gaara breathed at the sight. He walked slowly, and it didn't seem as if he was walking—he was another person, just a spectator in another world, watching as a young red-haired boy walk towards his exuberant and knackered crush. No, his love, Gaara's exuberant and knackered love.

Lee's breathing was shallow and ragged. Gaara pressed his ear to his chest, not minding the blood. He wrapped an arm around Lee's waist and felt one drop escape his tear-glazed eyes.

"Why…?" Gaara's voice shook quietly. "W-Why do you keep doing this? Why? To get stronger? You're strong enough, Lee…"

"…No…" Lee whispered, "To prove…I'm n-not weak…t-that I _can do it_…"

Gaara just stared at him, and Lee's face broke into a smile. A cracked, fake smile that did not reach his eyes. His arm slowly raised and he gave Gaara a thumbs-up. The sight made more tears fall down Gaara's face, and he was disgusted with himself for showing so much emotion.

"…P-Please don't w-worry, Gaara-kun," he said. "I'll be f-fine…"

Gaara knew he was lying.

**Author's Notes:**

(1): holy crap, try saying that three times fast...


End file.
